A few of us have been talking about new ways to incorporate the AvA and the game. The AvA is really a player run arena and it allows us to have many ideas. Recently I thought how could we take the ideas of MA gaming(taking bases), incorporate them with strategic warfare, and give a historical feel. I will post all my posts that I have written so far recently on this.
Original Thinking began here -
Ok so the idea is something I took from like old school hexagon computer games or board games like Axis vs Allies. Then I took something like the old school wars. Then thought about what people love about Aces High.
The idea basically is that, we create a setup that has a large scale battle objective(with smaller objectives). Battle nights are focused on like one or two bases, one side must capture a base, defend that base, or both.) Then a side objective would be like defend the shipping lanes.
I was thinking starting out small, not even really advertising, just getting the AvA normal guys together like once or twice a week. Have the forums open for commanders and squads to have a plan. Maybe put an time limit on the battle, like an hour or something.
It's really rough but the thought process is there. The key here is to create a fight not create a tactical war. Small focused skirmishes that will contribute to a large scale battle.
Then led to this -
Alright, sort of fleshed out in my head a little bit.
The goal: To create a fight. Have sides fight over objectives that will take part in a bigger picture.
I think in the past, I have thought too big, there was more focus on what's on paper than what people want to do in Aces High. People want to fight, blow stuff up, and fight for an objective. It's sort of combining the war fog of FSO and scenarios, and the freedom of the MA.
So here's a example setup I have played in my head, all the way from the beginning:
Step 1: The Setup-
Stalingrad- 1 month of Battle, 8 skirmishes to determine the winner.
Plane Set - what ever it is in the big picture.
Victory Conditions - Base captures will be the large in this setup, as ground will be valuable to win, especially in Stalingrad. Supply Lines could be secondary objectives? Want to find to a reason for bombers to have an impact.
Step 2: Commanding Officers -
These guys are needed to help organize attacks and battle plans. I was thinking making the setup skirmishes flexible, to allow the CO's to make decisions of what they are wanting to attack and what the other side will have to defend.
Step 3: Squads -
Squads is what I truly want in this. I want this to be a place where squads can come in and have squad nights and have tactical battles where their squadron is needed for a specific goal.
Step 4: Run it and Fix it - Find what works and what doesn't, adjust and make it better.
Other things:
Medals were cool back in the day. After you finish a war(like fly in 5 of 8 skirmishes), you earn a medal.
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Here's a little something for Stalingrad.
Major Victory Conditions: Holding V26 and V52(Even if they are lost in Frame 1, you can gain them back. Imagine the fight over them.)
Minor Strategic Soviet Victory: Holding V26
Minor Tactical Soviet Victory: Holding V26 and major destruction of German supply areas(Two German areas in Red)
Minor Strategic Germany Victory: Holding V52
Minor Tactical German Victory: Holding V52 and major destruction of Soviet Areas.
(Image removed from quote.)
Then to this -
AvA – Stalingrad
Stalingrad will be an Axis vs. Allies mini war. The mini war lasts 2 weeks and will consist of 4 battles. The battles will be on a continuous nature, meaning that aspects from each battle will determine the objectives of the next battle for each side. Each battle result could consist of a scale of Decisive victory, tactical victory, or a draw. The results of these will determine the next course of action. The object is to give squads an opportunity to have tactical operations with a main arena feel with historical settings. The main objective is to force a fight, give people what they want, and they want to fight. Each side will be given a CO and forums to communicate and be organized for their battles. It’s an open event and there is no life limit, the time limit is 1-2 hour per Battle.
Plane Set
Allies-Soviet Union
I-16
IL-2
P-39D
P-40F
Yak-7B
Tu-2
C-47
Axis - Germany
Bf-109E4
Bf-109F4
Bf-109G2(Only At A22/6)
Bf-110C4
Ju-87
He-111
C-47
T-34/76
M-3
M-16 Panzer IV F
Jadgpanzer-38
SDK-251
Ostwind
*Objectives can’t be written fully until after the 1st battle.
Battle 1:
Battle one will consist with the Germans pushing into Stalingrad. The main action of the battle will be the Germans launching ground attack from V26 into Soviet held base of V52. The primary objective is to take V52 and it would be a very decisive victory if the Germans do so. The map has a large city in between (not stratted) between the two bases, so the battle could turn into street fighting almost immediately. The Germans secondary objective is the city complex in 10,10,2. Targeting the city complex will act as a supply center for the Allies still on the far shore of Stalingrad. Secondary target for the Allies will be the troop center in 8,10,2. This will be acting as the supplies lines coming into Stalingrad for the Axis.
Axis Decisive
Capture V52
Axis Tactical
Destruction of Allies Supply lines(70%)
Draw
Neither side captures the base.
Either no destruction or destruction of each supplies.
Allies Tactical
Destruction of Axis supplies lines(70%)
Allies Decisive
Capture V26
Battle 2:
Battle two will be revolved around the actions of the first battle. An axis decisive victory would mean that they would hold onto V52 at all costs. They would purely be the defenders in that situation. They would be attacking the supply lines toward the east, as reinforcements coming into Stalingrad, 14-10-5 Saykin, will be the target. The Allies will be desperately attempting to gain V52 back, they would have no secondary objective as all efforts will be thrown into V52. Tactical victories or a draw would have the same objectives as battle one. If the Allies have a decisive victory in battle one, they would continue pushing toward the Axis. Their target bases to take would be A28/27. They would also have a secondary objective in 9-11-4. The Axis would have only one objective and that would be to get V26 back.
Battle 3:
Battle 3 would be hard to predict due to the nature and the what if’s from the first two battles. In this battle, if it would continue to be a battle for V26 and V52. The Allies would gain objectives of A28/27 to outflank and surround the Germans. Supply lines and depots would be selected and adjusted to the nature of what is happening. We would probably give a chance for a side to counter attack if they were routed in the first two battles and put the other side on the defense.
Battle 4:
Even tougher to predict and write proper objectives for. Would give each side a chance to surround and push into the opposing sides areas. Supply depots would still be in effect. Also give a chance for each side to attack and put the finishing touches on the War if they chose, or protect what they have.
Other things:
Vehicle Hangers(X4 of normal MA hardness?)
Mission ribbons awarded to pilots who fly in 3 of the 4 battles.
*Correct on historicalness please
Also, a few of us have been talking about bringing back the Broken Skies ideas that we had in the past. It was loosely based off of Combat Tour and had a RPG element to the entire thing. Basically you would start as a pilot, fly a mission(Based on Bombing campaigns in the West), have a pilot profile, earn medals, promotions, and if you were killed in combat, you would start over. That was the basic jist of that. These two ideas are very different but are very capable to do in the AvA arena.
Open for discussion, it's your game and your arena. This is a great opportunity for people wanting more out of the game.
